We
invite all our clients and busy people to take their business
pleasure. There's always a trick and a way if we have the
will to unwind, relax, and do business while at the whitesand
shores. With the latest technology we have, you can do real-time
multi-tasking work while on vacation. Technology is everywhere
now such as converged communication, we can always make
our time precious, productive, and meaningfull. We read
the article of Dorothy J. Griggs, who is a licensed Enrolled
Agent and has over 10 years of tax and accounting experience.

Enrolled
Agents are tax professionals licensed by the federal government
to represent taxpayers and assist them with tax planning
and tax return preparation. Dorothy is also a member of
the National Association of Enrolled Agents. Let me quote
her words about "Deducting your combined biz/vacation
travel." Time with family is precious.

That's
why more and more business travelers are adding on vacation
to their trips and inviting family to join them. Sometimes
it's easy to mix business and pleasure - especially with
the trend toward booking business conferences at resort
areas like Orlando or Las Vegas. With a little advance planning,
you can get Uncle Sam to foot part of the bill - legally.

The Internal Revenue Service lets you deduct 100 percent
of your transportation costs for travel within the United
States - as long as the primary reason for the trip is business.
If your trip is primarily for pleasure, only expenses directly
related to business are deductible. So the trick is to make
business the principal purpose of your trip. Then you can
mix in a few vacation days and still fully deduct transportation
costs, including: airfare (for yourself only), getting to
and from the airport, tips for baggage handlers, cabs from
your hotel to your business meetings and back.

Of
course, you don't have to fly to get tax write-offs. The
same rules apply when you travel by rail or car. Pack the
family into the car for the joint business/vacation destination,
and you can deduct the total cost of driving back and forth,
even though others are in the car. When you share your hotel
room with family members, you may deduct the cost of what
you would have paid for a single, rather than double, room.
Just be sure to ask the hotel to note the single rate on
your bill.

Plus, you can write off all your daily out-of-pocket expenses
- lodging, hotel tips, and 50 percent of meals, seminar
and convention fees, cab fare, etc. - for business days
at your destination. Your out-of- pocket expenses for personal
days are not deductible. There is a really easy way to gain
maximum tax deductions and take some extra days off too.
It's the Saturday night stay-over exception.

If staying over a Saturday night would substantially reduce
your airfare - and thus the overall cost of your business
trip - the IRS will cut you a break. In effect, the IRS
lets you count the extra days as business days because staying
over actually saves money. Remember, your trip must still
be primarily for business and you can only deduct 50 percent
of your meal expenses.

Keep in mind that the IRS pays close attention to deductions
claimed for business travel. Maintain a log to substantiate
your business activities. Include the dates of departure
and return, the number of days spent on business, and the
reason for the travel." End of quote.